Status Updates From The O. Henry Prize Stories ...

Another threefer this afternoon: Lesley Nneka Arimah's "Glory," Matha Cooley's "Mercedes Benz," and Manuel Muñoz's "The Reason is Because." This'll be my last update like this, seeing as I plan to finish it tonight, and I only have two more stories on top of that. I liked the first two out of the three from this bunch. The third isn't bad, but it left a discomfort when reading that put it down some.

See, it's not only with full books that I put off an update over the evening for--it's also inter-chapter updates! That being said, I read three last night: Jai Chakrabarti's "A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness," Kate Cayley's "The Bride and the Street Party," and Amit Majmudar's "Secret Lives of the Detainees." Of the three, I liked "Secret Lives" the best, and "Bride" was good too.

Only one today: Heather Monley's "Paddle to Canada." I quite enjoyed this one; it's simplicity is where it hits strongest.

Finished "Lion" by Wil Weitzel. Quite short, but I did like this more than the ones I read yesterday.

I also did a twofer on this book: Joseph O'Neill's "The Trusted Traveller" and Keith Eisner's "Blue Dot." Unlike the two for Everything Abridged, I wouldn't say I liked these as much. "The Trusted Traveller" gave me Cheever vibes, and while I enjoyed some aspects of it (as I did with Cheever's), it didn't sit well. And "Blue Dot," I don't know, it just did nothing for me.

Finished three stories in this session: Shruti Swamy's "Night Garden," Kevin Barry's "A Cruelty," and Mary LaChapelle's "Floating Garden." I think of the three, "Night Garden" I liked the best, but--certainly--all three had their merits.

Finished "Protection" by Paola Peroni. I love a story about a nonna--and una famiglia as a whole--even if she's on death's door, so this whole story made was wonderful.

After a shorter hiatus than with Everything Abridged, I returned to this one by finishing "Garments" by Tahmima Anam. This one felt like one of the stories I'd found in "My Pen is the Wing of a Bird," so while good, I couldn't like it as much as the others thus far.

Finished "The Buddhist" by Alan Rossi. Wow, that was a really good story. I don't have any other thoughts than that at this point.

Finished "Something for a Young Woman" by Genevieve Plunkett. These stories I'm definitely enjoying more than the other literary fiction I've been reading recently.

Finished "Too Good to Be True" by Michelle Huneven. I really liked this one. It made me feel sad, but in a different way than the stories in My Pen is a Wing did. This was a sadness I welcomed, that ironically felt good. I dunno. I liked this one.